It was the year of coaches.

The 2004 sports year saw area coaches reach milestones and others reached individual honors.

Ironton football coach Bob Lutz and basketball coach Roger Zornes had some key career victories, and former Ironton player Mark Snyder was elevated at Ohio State to defensive coordinator.

Zornes was also named to the Kentucky Court of Honor, and Chesapeake's Norm Persin finally won an award that had eluded him throughout his illustrious career, Associated

Press state Coach of the Year.

But there were plenty of individual honors and performances throughout the past year. Here's a brief look back into the year of individual awards.

January

Former Ironton football star Mark Snyder, now an assistant coach at Ohio State, was named defensive coordinator of the Buckeyes by head coach Jim Tressel.

February

In his collegiate debut, former Chesapeake standout T.R. Hannan leaped a personal-best 6-7 to win the high jump at the Otterbein Invitational and earn Player of the Week honors for Morehead State.

Chesapeake won the boys OVC basketball championship for the ninth straight year. The South Point Lady Pointers won the girls crown.

Ironton's girls won the Div. III sectional by routing Peebles 58-39, then lost in the district semifinals to Zane Trace which shot 51 percent.

The Fighting Tigers bowling team won the regional tournament and qualified for the state meet.

Ironton and Chesapeake boys teams won Division III sectional titles while Symmes Valley won in Div. IV.

March

Symmes Valley fell to Portsmouth East in the district semifinals.

Ironton beat Westfall 62-59 in overtime and Chesapeake stopped Piketon 40-24 to win district championships.

In the regionals, Ironton lost to Bellaire in the semifinals and Chesapeake fell to the Big Red in the championship game.

Ironton basketball coach Roger Zornes was selected to the Kentucky High School Basketball Coaches Court of Honor, the organization Hall of Fame.

The District 13 coaches tabbed St. Joseph's Shawn Hacker the Div. IV Player of the Year and Chesapeake's Lisa Perry the Div. III co-Player of the Year as well as the North/South All-Star Game representative.

Chesapeake's Norm Persin was named the Associated Press Div. III Coach of the Year along with Johnstown's Joe Bline. Hacker, a first team AP All-Ohio selection, was one of seven area boys named all-state.

Tribune sports editor Jim Walker was inducted into the Ohio High School Prep Sports Writers Hall of Fame.

April

Dave Lucas, a member of the Ohio High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame, returned as the head coach of the Coal Grove Hornets after a five-year hiatus.

St. Joseph senior center Shawn Hacker signed a letter-of-intent to play for Shawnee State.

Ironton's Justin Gillum set a school pole vault record by clearing 13-7, one inch better than Rusty Mittendorf.

Chesapeake first team All-Ohio running back Cody Hunt signed with Morehead State, and All-Ohio basketball point guard Daniel Thompson signed to play at West Liberty State University.

May

Fairland won the baseball and girls OVC championships while South Point claimed both the boys and girls track titles.

St. Joseph boys basketball coach Adam Simpson resigned due to family commitments.

Ironton won the Division III sectional baseball championship but lost in the district finals.

In softball, Symmes Valley won the girls SOC title, the Div. IV sectional and district tournaments before losing 2-0 to Strasburg in the regional semifinals.

The Rock Hill Redwomen won their first-ever sectional softball championship before falling 6-5 in 10 innings in the district title game.

In track, South Point's boys won the district while Ironton's girls and Chesapeake's boys were district runners-up in Divisions II and III, respectively.

Fairland Lady Dragons mid-distance runner Vanessa Copley signed to run track at the University of Charleston.

Mandi Boykin and Justin Gillum of Ironton, and Scott Davidson, Tristin Clark, Brittany Montgomery, Ashley Roach, Veronica Perko, and Lisa Perry all qualified for the state track meet as did the Panthers 400 relay team of Cody Hunt, Caleb Robbins, Chad Simmons and Clark.

June

At the state meet, Gillum was fifth in the pole vault and Boykin third in the 100 meters of the Div. II meet, Davidson was fourth in the pole vault in Div. III, and the 400 relay team was eighth.

Former South Point and Central Florida lefthanded pitcher Jamie Douglas was drafted in the 26th round of the Major League Baseball draft by the Anaheim Angels.

Brent Wilcoxon was hired as the Fairland football coach. Mark LaFon resigned as the South Point boys basketball coach to become an assistant coach at Ironton.

Kevin Hacker, an assistant coach at St. Joseph High School, was named the boys head basketball coach.

Kevin Sheridan, the former AP Div. IV prep basketball coach of the year at St. Joseph, was named the Green Bobcats head football coach.

July

Dr. John Leach, Ironton's team physician, was honored by the American Orthopedic Society with the prestigious Dr. Thomas A. Brady Community Service Award for his work with high school athletics.

Nikki Eplion of South Point lost to Laila Ali for the WIBA super middleweight championship. The fight was stopped 1:30 in the fourth round.

The South Point Senior League girls softball team won the state tournament and advanced to the regionals in South Bend, Ind. SPSL was 2-2 in the regionals.

Former Spring Valley (W.Va.) boys basketball coach Gary Norris came out of a two-month retirement to accept the job as South Point's boys basketball coach.

Former Ironton wide receiver James Taylor, who went on to play at Ohio University and Georgetown College, signed a free agent contract with the Green Bay Packers of the NFL. Taylor tried out as a wide receiver and defensive back, but he was signed to play cornerback.

August

Fairland 160-pound senior wrestler Casey Galligan signed with Campbell University in North Carolina.

James Taylor was released by Green Bay.

Ironton senior guard Andrea Rudmann signed a letter-of-intent to play basketball for the Shawnee State Lady Golden Bears.

September

Ironton head football coach Bob Lutz moved into second place as the winningest coach in Ohio history when the Fighting Tigers beat Gallipolis 30-0 in the third game of the season. Lutz's 324th win is second only to now retired Terry Malone of Hamilton Badin who has 360 wins. Lutz ended the season with 331 wins.

Legendary football star Glenn Presnell died at the age of 99. Presnell was an All-American running back at Nebraska where he led the nation in rushing. He later starred for the Ironton Tanks and was a two-time All-Pro for the Detroit Lions where he led them to the 1935 NFL championship.

Tony Brown won the Ironton Country Club championship, his second overall.

The women's champ was Jane Mains, Doug Ison won the seniors and Carlos Willis the super seniors.

October

Ironton sophomore Seth Christian qualified for the Division II state golf tournament while Chesapeake junior P.J. Rase earned a state golf tournament berth in Division III.

Rase was also named to the all-district team in Division III and selected Golfer of the Year.

The Ironton Lady Fighting Tigers won the Division III sectional volleyball championship.

Symmes Valley won a third straight SOC football title while Chesapeake took its second OVC championship in a row.

Ironton, Chesapeake and Symmes Valley all qualified for the Ohio High School Athletic Association postseason playoffs.

November

In the playoffs, Ironton beat Westfall (41-21) but lost to New Albany (10-0), Chesapeake lost to Ridgewood (33-14), and Symmes Valley reached its first-ever regional final before losing to Danville (25-12). The Vikings beat Rosecrans (16-6) and Newark Catholic (16-3).

Ironton's Sarah Cartmell and Andrea Rudmann were first team all-district in volleyball.

The AP first team All-Ohio list included Ironton's Patrick Kouns, Marcus Williams and Darius Lewis and Fairland's Sam Huff in Div. IV, Coal Grove's Justin Hyland in Div. V, and Symmes Valley's Justin Holland and Craig Neal in Div. VI.

Second team picks were Fairland's Michael Hill, Coal Grove's Patrick Roush, and Symmes Valley's Cory Burcham. Special mention went to: Ironton's Ryan Walker, Adam Ferguson, Josh Carty, Shane Kerns; Rock Hill's K.C. Christian and Justin Lavender; South Point's Tommy Hayner; Coal Grove's Nick Bazell,; Green's C.J. Blevins and Kyle Bailey; Chesapeake's Dustin O'Brien, Shane Williams, Matt Whitmore, Bryan Eldred and Jeff Thornburg; and Symmes Valley's Derrek Cremeans, Jon Dillon and Eli Bowling.

December

Ironton's 55-41 win over the Wheelersburg Pirates on Dec. 6 was only its second of the season, but it was career win No. 500 for Roger Zornes.

Ohio University names former Nebraska head coach Frank Solich its new football coach.